Ayuthaya to Ao Sane

We had heard about Ayuthaya from one of the hosts at the Horizon Unlimited Meeting way back in January at Chiang Mai and again at the 3 Pagoda Pass whilst chatting to a very informative German. Because of a Public Holiday causing extremely congested roads into Bangkok, we consulted the map and decided to waste a day, head North, and visit the Ancient Capital of Thailand. There are a couple of bridges to cross over the wide moat into the island city of Ayuthaya and there we were greeted by strange red brick architectural shapes. “Tomorrow, too tired now”. We spot a sign “Grandparents Home”. This will do for a few day’s rest. We have a very important meeting in 2 days time in Bangkok with the Marketing Team at GPX Racing Headquarters. This very exciting event came as a result of a few emails we had sent describing the perfectness of the Legend 200 for touring and the modifications we had done to enable 2up. Fortunately they were intrigued enough to reply and a meeting was arranged. But first we needed to spruce up both the bike and ourselves after nearly 2months on the road. A very early morning walk to the Ancient Ruins before breakfast did the job. We wander around the maze of headless Buddha statues, read about the differences between a pagoda, pedestal, chedi and pronk, and as it is already way over 30 degrees, draining all our energy, we march back to “Grandparents Place” for a pre-breakfast snooze. Isn’t that what Grandparents do?

By mid-afternoon we have fully recovered from all the travelling, the bike has been frothed and pampered, sparkling in the sun, so we take it for a ride around the island. More pronks and chedis around every corner, keeping the moat always on our left, we zig-zag up and down and around and then reach a bridge over the moat off the island. “Stop, stop”, I yell, “There’s a crocodile in the river”. We pull up and watch this enormous 2 metre ‘lizard’ swish and sway at the river’s edge, just under the reeds, and then another one appears. We snapped a few shots on the phone, as my camera was on-charge back at the room. Damn, I never go without my camera, but B’s Samsung Note3 saved the day. By the evening the weather had cooled enough for us to attempt another walk, this time to find somewhere to eat. Being Valentine’s Day, perhaps something other than Rice and Chicken would be good. Ah, a Chinese Restaurant across the road beckoned us. With eager anticipation for something tantalising we sat down, opened the menu and Shark Fin Soup was listed first. No Thank You. We can only make a small pathetic stand against establishments that support this practise, so politely closed the menu, got up and left. The Rice and Chicken from the street vendor next door was delicious.

Our meeting with GPX RACING is at 3pm, 78 kms away, straight down the fast, wide highway to the north end of Bangkok. Eezy, peezy, just 90 minutes away. To be on the safe side we allocated double that time, plus a bit for lunch, so left Ayuthaya shortly after 9am, before the heat. We made good time until we got caught up in traffic and missed the turning because we were in the wrong lane. The highway is 3 lanes, plus a 2 lane frontage road. The frontage road is accessed by gaps in the concrete barrier, both on and off the highway. The purpose of the frontage road is to enable local access to the shops and businesses and access to left-turns and flyovers. Some of these flyovers are actually U-Turns, and some U-turns are underpasses (Left Lane). And some U-Turns are accessed by a gap in the central barrier (Right Lane). All at a steady 70- 80 kms/hr. I am trying to read google maps, look at signposts and tap B on the appropriate shoulder with my spare hand. B is watching traffic and turn-offs like a hawk. Google keeps losing signal because of all the concrete. After 4 U-turns we think we’ve cracked it and are just about there, except we are on the wrong side of the road. We do as the locals do and ramp the pavement to start riding the other way. Unfortunately there is a Army base and Airport in the way so its back down the highway for a few more U-Turns. We recognise some that we’ve done before, and then a very polite policeman, who possibly recognises us by now, flags us over to the hard shoulder. “Where are you going?” We show him the spot on Google Map. “You need to do a U-Turn”, he kindly informs us. I silently scream “I KNOW, WE’VE BEEN DOING U-TURNS FOR OVER AN HOUR !!!!!”. Eventually we get it right and turn into the showroom entrance, it’s taken 4 hours to do 78 kms. After a iced coca-cola and a sugar-boost sticky bun, we present ourselves at GPX Racing Headquarters, apologising for being early, but we are very happy to wait until 3pm in their lovely cool air-conditioned showroom. The temperature outside is intense and the traffic fumes suffocating.

Before long the Head of Marketing appears, and we are graciously welcomed and introduced to his team who have travelled up from the South of Bangkok, a long 2 hour car journey. The entire afternoon was delightful, we were interviewed on and off camera. The super-clean motorbike was photographed, loaded and unloaded, and was treated to an oil change and full free service. The interest and enthusiasm for us and our adventure was remarkable, and the preparation for interview questions and video set-up was beyond expectation. Their best-seller is the GPX Racing 125cc DEMON and 2nd is the Legend 200cc. We love our bike.

After a fabulous afternoon and warm wishes to keep in touch we punched “Hearing Aid Clinic” into maps and entered the highway madness again, with 30 minutes before closing time to get B’s Hearing Test done and dusted. We are still in Bangkok, this time a bit West, in the suburbs and find a string of guesthouses to choose from for the night’s stop over. Whilst unpacking the bike, a good looking Thai chap wanders over for a chat. This bike draws a lot of attention, because of the uniqueness of its appearance and uncertainty of its origin. He notices that the number plate is from Khon Kaen and informs us he is going there tomorrow on business. “And what is that?” I ask inquiringly (some call it nosey). He says he is an X-ray Engineer, doing calibration on x-ray equipment. This is music to my ears and we spend the next half an hour merrily chatting about Analogue vs Digital Machines and CT Scanners and General Work. B gets bored and disappears for a fag, I am in my element having a bizarre conversation about a previous life in the middle of Bangkok with a lovely Thai engineer. We hug and part the bestest of friends, a treasured connection that goes into my memory bank.

Pre-dawn sees us entering the traffic fray to cut across the middle of Bangkok and emerge out on the big highway going South. We have a few days to reach Phuket and embrace our family who are joining us for 3 weeks. Even at 6.30 am the traffic is mad, the heat is furnace-like and we have a long way to go. The double highway is now 12 lanes wide, with a 3 lane frontage on each side. B and I do not scream at each other, I do not thump him extra hard if a turn gets missed, we do not rattle each other when things go wrong. That would be dangerous and jeopardise the whole trip. We are calm and eventually get to the one and only road going South. The boredom sets in. Long, straight and even at 105 kms/hr goes on forever. We pass large expanses of dried crystal fields, glistening in the rising sun, that turn out to be saltpans, and by midmorning pull into Cha-Am for a caffeine boost, where we have a fascinating conversation with a hynotherapist. We congratulate him on his choice of t-shirt design – Giraffes marching across his chest - and ask if he is from Africa? No, but we are and so the next hour is spent happily hanging out at a coffee bar, watching the waves and the world go by. Reluctantly we finish a most interesting and entertaining conversation, and possibly under a hypnotic spell, complete the journey to Hua Hin. We had stayed at Hua Hin some years before, so retraced our route and did a bike ride around previously explored coves and roads. We photographed a temple monkey posing for a selfie and after a Green Chicken Curry set off again, settling in at a hotel in Puachipkhirikhan as night fell, 300kms of straight line tarmac. The only thing going for Puachipkhirikhan is the fact the the Royal Princess has a residence there and was arriving that weekend. The street sweepers, gardeners and rubbish removal workers were hard at work from the early hours in preparation for her arrival, prompting us to get up early and get going. 371 kms later we reached a lovely resort just south of Ranong , with pool and amazing smooth shiny cement walls finished off like a Gerhard Richter Painting. A 2 night stay helped us catch up on writing and resting before the last stretch of 218 kms through much more interesting mountain passes and along coastal roads to reach Kathu on the island of Phuket.

With a different hat on now, we stop being ‘motorbike backpackers’, which is how GPX Racing Team describes us, and prepare ourselves for the next phase of this amazing adventure. It’s shopping time at Tesco Lotus for nappies and food pouches whilst we wait for the arrival of grandchild number 10 to fly in from Wales. The Dentist is done, the Immigration Extension Visa is done, the Optician appointment is done, the translation from Thai to English of bike’s Green book is done, the Bungalow on the beach at Ao Sane is booked and ready for us to move in. All we need to do now is wait for the plane.